Ukraine Hold Off Determined Latvians

Yevgen Balaban helped Ukraine with his 11 points and 7 rebounds as they held of Latvia for their second win

Ukraine have held of a dogged Latvian team, 73-58, to advance to the second round of the Dadu U16 European Basketball Championship.

Ukraine maintained a slight lead throughout most of the game as Latvia were made to pay for conceding too many free-throws. 31 of Ukraine's points came via the charity stripe, compared to just 10 for the maroons.

Midway through the third quarter Latvia briefly led, much to the joy of the partisan crowd, but by the time the buzzer sounded Maksym Mikhelson's team was back in front, where they would remain for the final ten minutes as the scoreline began to blow out.

For a second night in a row Oleksandr Kobets was the stand out player for Ukraine, finishing with 24 points. Yevgen Balaban and Vadym Golyk added 11.